chevy super cruise review

• Hybrids & EVs
• Vehicle Reviews

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Super Cruise Review: Multi-Tasker’s Dream

Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier Super Cruise review highlights:

• GM’s partial-autonomy Super Cruise is a $2200 option on the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier
• It doesn’t work on all roads and in all conditions, but it’s genuinely smooth and simple to use and makes commuting with distractions less dangerous and mentally taxing
• If you understand what Super Cruise can and can’t do, it’s a worthwhile option on the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, especially if you spend a lot of time in city highway traffic

Make no mistake, autonomous vehicles aren’t here yet, but several companies are dead set on making them a reality. And while Tesla’s AutoPilot hogs the spotlight, other partial-autonomy suites, including GM’s Super Cruise , have arguably eclipsed its capabilities. But what’s it actually like to drive…ride…experience (?) Super Cruise on a real road? I recently found out behind the wheel of a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV.

The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV is the first non-Cadillac to offer Super Cruise

When GM first introduced Super Cruise, it was initially limited to one or two Cadillacs . Now, though, not only do more Caddies offer it, but it’s starting to spread to other GM brands. And the first Chevrolet to offer it is the 2022 Bolt EUV. Well, a version of it.

I say ‘offer’ because it’s not a standard feature. It’s a $2200 option on the 2022 Bolt EUV Premier, the higher of the two trims. Also, Chevrolet’s version of Super Cruise doesn’t offer automatic lane changing like Cadillac’s and GMC’s versions . Checking that $2200 box does get you enhanced automatic emergency braking, too, though.

However, not including automatic lane changing isn’t a cost-cutting measure. A Chevrolet spokesperson told me that feature requires “GM’s latest electrical architecture,” which the 2022 Bolt EUV lacks. The current Escalade , 2023 Chevy Tahoe, and several upcoming full-size trucks and Cadillac crossovers, though, do have this architecture. So, until Chevrolet overhauls the Bolt EUV, it won’t change lanes automatically while using Super Cruise.

But the Bolt EUV’s version is far from a one-trick pony.

How does it work?

Like the Cadillac and GMC versions, the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV’s version of Super Cruise is classified as Level 2 on the SAE’s partial-autonomy scale. So, it absolutely cannot drive everywhere on its own. However, on certain roads and under specific conditions, it can control the Bolt EUV with someone attentive behind the wheel.

To use Super Cruise in the Bolt EUV , you first activate the adaptive cruise control. Next, you must be on a road that GM has mapped with LiDAR to the Super Cruise database. By the end of 2022, GM claims over 400,000 miles of American and Canadian highways will be in the database. For now, though, it’s limited to just over 200,000 miles. Regardless, you’ll know you’re on a compatible road when a little white steering wheel icon appears on the digital driver’s display.

Once that icon appears, get the Bolt EUV centered in your lane. Activating lane-keeping assist isn’t necessary, but it can help. Then, press, the Super Cruise button on the steering wheel. If you’ve set everything up correctly, a green bar will light up on the steering wheel. And bingo, it’s on; you are now free to take your hands off the wheel.

Once Super Cruise is on, the Chevrolet Bolt EUV uses its 360° camera system and radar sensors together with GPS and LiDAR map data to position itself on the road. And it monitors your eye movements through a camera on the steering wheel. If it sees you’re not paying attention, it’ll beep at you, turn that light bar red, and deactivate. So, no texting and driving.

But you can also manually deactivate it if you need to take temporary control. This brings up a blue light on the wheel. Then, once you’ve re-centered the Bolt EUV in the lane, you can re-activate Super Cruise.

What’s it like using Super Cruise in the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV on a real highway?

I’ll admit, I was nervous testing the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV’s Super Cruise on Chicago’s highways. Yes, they’re mapped to the database, but have you seen Chicago traffic? Nevertheless, I got onto the highway, turned the adaptive cruise control on, and waited for the go-ahead. And with a deep breath, I pressed the button.

The first few minutes were…odd. I mean, you’re still scanning the road and mirrors, but your feet aren’t on the pedals. And it’s just plain weird seeing the steering wheel move on its own. But even over broken pavement, the Bolt EUV kept steady.

I drove, uh, used Super Cruise for several miles going north and south on the highway. During that time, the system only deactivated once. As it separates from I-90 going north, I-94 curves away to the east. I think the change in lane markings at that curve threw the system off, which is why it deactivated. However, it gave me more than enough notice to grab the wheel. That beeping and light show helps a lot.

Otherwise, though, I cruised effortlessly (and silently) in the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, my hands off the wheel the whole time. The EV never bounced off lane markers, lost its way, or steered violently around bends. It was smooth sailing the entire way, even over pockmarked spots with minor lane marker breaks. Admittedly, I didn’t have a chance to take it on a long road trip. But I expect, if I paid attention, Super Cruise would work just as well.

If you’re a highway busybody, you’ll love using Super Cruise

Therein lies the issue, though: you must pay attention while Super Cruise is on. So, to paraphrase a recent Road & Track sentiment, why not just drive yourself? The answer came to me as I was trying to readjust my fallen backpack on the passenger’s side floor. Although briefly, I had to take my eyes off the road to do so. And if I had my hands on the wheel, I’d need to move at least one, too.

In a normal car, that’s risky at best. But with Super Cruise, it’s not. Even if it’s only for a few seconds, it lets you grab fallen bags, reach for out-of-sight objects, and turn to your passengers without worrying about crashing into someone or something. And how many times have you panic-eaten something in your car, trying to chew and pay attention to the road? I know I have. That’s not a problem in a Chevrolet Bolt EUV with Super Cruise.

Furthermore, that bit about road trips? I’ve driven backpackers in vans on cross-country hikes multiple times. Having the Super Cruise safety net there would undoubtedly make those drives less draining.

Is it worth getting?

One of the most impressive things about the 2022 @chevrolet Bolt EUV has nothing to do with electrification. It’s @GM ’s Super Cruise system being available in a somewhat affordable car. pic.twitter.com/3kS0rDHmOG — Michael Wayland (@MikeWayland) March 1, 2021

As noted earlier, Super Cruise is an option on the higher 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV trim. Even though the 2023 model is cheaper , that means paying at least $35,000 before taxes. In addition, Super Cruise doesn’t work without Chevrolet’s Connected Services. You get three years of connectivity standard, but after that, there’s a subscription fee. Plus, the system requires clear lane markings, not to mention clean camera lenses. And even then, it only works on mapped highways.

But even with these drawbacks, I still think Super Cruise is worth it, especially on the commute-focused Bolt EUV . After all the times I’ve sat stressing in city traffic, I’d gladly pay $2200 to lessen my mental load. To paraphrase R&T again, commuting is not fun driving—anything that makes it less soul-sucking is helpful.

No, Super Cruise isn’t full self-driving, even if it’s arguably a steppingstone on that path. Nor is it foolproof or a replacement for proper safety training. But it’s definitely a helpful tool that’s worth at least a test drive. Er, ride.

Follow more updates from MotorBiscuit on our Facebook page .

2023 Chevy Tahoe: Price, Specs, and New Super Cruise Hands-Free Driving

7 important 2024 Land Rover Defender 130 game changing features

The Polaris RZR Pro R 4 will take players over the edge in Call of Duty: Warzone Season 1

Test drive: the 2025 Genesis G80 3.5T Prestige sedan is my kind of quirky

Matthew Skwarczek

Matthew Skwarczek started blogging in 2015 and focuses his writing on motorcycles and engineering science. A graduate of Northwestern University, where he earned his Master’s in Chemical Engineering, Matthew served as an applications engineer for BASF before joining MotorBiscuit in 2019.

In Matthew’s words, the visceral nature of riding requires you to be in the moment. Combined with his fascination in the analytics surrounding the building and designing of cars and bikes, both modern and classic, you’ll find his voice blends functionality and phenomena. He rides motorcycles and bicycles often, photographing them as well.

Matthew has contributed to Oppositelock and is now an alumnus. He plays Dungeons & Dragons and reads sci-fi and fantasy in his spare time, and appreciates the works of Peter Egan, Sam Smith, Brandon Sanderson, and Alex Goy.

How Good Is Super Cruise On Long Freeway Trips?

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Fully autonomous vehicles on the road aren't going to happen for a long, long time.

The bubble has deflated, and expectations are finally starting to be tempered. What we are left with are either half measures or valuable driver aids. GM's Super Cruise system seeks to be a super helpful hands-free driver aid for the highway. In theory, you can join a freeway, get to speed, tap a button and the car will cruise along and take care of keeping a safe distance from a vehicle in front while steering for you. To oversimplify, it marries adaptive cruise control and a more robust version of lane-keep assist so the driver can dial back and be less stressed on the freeway. There are caveats and limitations, which we'll get into, but that's the overview.

We've experienced Super Cruise a few times but rarely take press cars on long freeway trips. So, when this writer was charged with driving to Las Vegas to drive McLaren's new supercar, Cadillac was good enough to supply an XT6 so we could spend quality time with Super Cruise on the four-and-a-half-hour road trip.

The trip from LA to Las Vegas is simple . You prepare yourself for driving in a straight line on the I-15 for four hours, surrounded by bad drivers on a primarily two-lane freeway. It's precisely the kind of driving Super Cruise should shine with, and it does - mostly.

The first caveat of GM's Super Cruise is that the road you want to use it on has been mapped and is in the system. The second is that the driver has to be attentive and watch the road. The car uses GPS with real-time map data to determine the vehicle's location, while the Lane Sensing Camera detects the marked lanes on the road. The system also uses LiDAR for the adaptive cruise control part of the system.

To keep tabs on the driver's head and eye positioning, there's a tiny camera around the steering column and sensors on either side of the steering wheel's light bar that change color to alert the driver to changes in the system. Super Cruise controls the throttle, brakes, and steering when the light is green. When it turns blue, it senses the driver taking control of the steering and flashes red when Super Cruise disengages completely.

How Does Super Cruise Work?

The major selling point of Super Cruise is that it doesn't require the driver's hands on the wheel when engaged. It will accelerate, brake, cruise, and steer for you on a supported highway.

Some models also feature Lane Change on Demand, which works when the driver flips the indicator. This feature wasn't equipped for our 2022 XT6 loaner, but we've used it on one of GMC's trucks, and while it's disconcerting at first, we found it reliable and helpful.

Without it, you need to take control of the car, turning the lightbar blue, then recenter in the next lane for Super Cruise to take over again. For the most part, though, you can sit and keep an eye out while the system drives for you.

Is Super Cruise Good?

While Super Cruise is currently the best and safest autonomous feature available, it's not perfect.

It's at its best on roads that have their road markings well maintained. Otherwise, the steering can become a little jerky. On one section of the I-15, which is not a great example of American roads, we were being followed by a police car and became genuinely concerned we might be pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving for the way the XT6 was moving and jerking around in its lane on a long, slight bend.

However, when the road markings were maintained to a reasonable standard, the XT6's steering inputs were smooth enough not to be jarring, and the car was kept in the center of its lane.

In light traffic on a reasonably maintained road, Super Cruise went for an hour smoothly without fault.

However, when traffic started building, things weren't so smooth, and the asshole drivers came out to play. When you've been sitting behind two cars at 50 mph. Then, you pull out to pull an overtaking maneuver at 65 mph, preparing to go past both. Suddenly, one of the cars decides also to join the overtaking lane, and Super Cruise reacts and keeps you safe by braking, but it's very sudden.

Super Cruise does its job as intended, but a few times, we saw indicators that a car was about to do something careless or stupid. That's not the fault of Super Cruise, but being reactive is a limitation of the technology - it can't spot a shift in a vehicle's positioning that a driver can pick up on as a warning sign and react early to it - like easing off the throttle to increase the gap as a defensive maneuver.

The result, either way, is avoiding a collision, but that's where paying attention pays off with Super Cruise - a smoother ride for the driver and passengers. The difference with Super Cruise is that it's always paying attention, so it's an excellent failsafe.

On the way home after dark in heavy traffic, we gave up on Super Cruise as it wanted to accelerate and brake too suddenly for comfort.

Again, that's a limitation of the technology. It can't predict other drivers' actions; it just reacts to them. Once out of Las Vegas, with traffic easing up, Super Cruise did its job nicely and without incident, until we reached that poorly maintained section with little to no painted lines again.

We thought the cat's eyes would help now as they are only effective at night, but it didn't appear so. After that, Super Cruise made what's usually a tedious yet stressful drive easier. The result was being more alert and attentive for a longer duration and not suddenly feeling like it was time for rest stops. Instead, it was a case of "Oh, I could use a coffee and a snack," not, "I need a break."

A subtle but essential difference on a road trip.

The Snag With Super Cruise And Autonomy In General

Of the three times this reviewer has driven a car with Super Cruise, there have been errors thrown up twice, and Super Cruise just stopped working.

It happened at the end of this journey, telling us to consult the manual. Super Cruise reset when the car was turned off and left overnight. The next day we drove through some rain and sleet, and there we got warnings that the sensors were blocked and Super Cruise wouldn't work.

That's a technical limitation on all sensor-based driving aids, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're looking to option Super Cruise on a car - it won't work all the time, and stormy weather can affect its operability.

How Complete Is Super Cruise As A Technology?

Currently, GM is expanding Super Cruise usability from around 200,000 miles to 400,000 miles of roadways in the US and Canada, and there are no signs things will slow down from there. When you buy the vehicle, the sensors are fixed, but GM does upgrade the software via over-the-air updates and plans to keep extending the number of roads Super Cruise works with. If or when it'll be suitable for city streets is anybody's guess.

Super Cruise isn't cheap, so it's worth asking yourself if you'll use it regularly. On Cadillacs, it costs $2,500 as an option, and on Chevrolet models, it costs $2,200 on models if available. You'll also find it on some GMC trucks and SUVs as an option or built into high trim levels.

If Super Cruise is included on a trim level, it's a no-brainer. As an option, it's something we would think about before committing. Super Cruise-enabled models come with three years of free connectivity that supports Super Cruise's functionality, and after that, it becomes a paid subscription.

Verdict: A Limited But Useful Tool To Have

When it's available, and the road markings are reasonably maintained, Super Cruise is excellent.

Still, we would want the Lane Change on Demand ability as it completes the package and experience. It's an expensive option, so we would consider how often we would use Super Cruise before committing and look at the map on Chevrolet's website and make sure the roads we use regularly are covered or will be covered in the future.

It's a complicated system to recommend as, while not a beta product, it needs to be completed in terms of road coverage. There's an argument to be made that by adding Super Cruise, you're future-proofing your purchase. It's a valid point, but if your regular routes aren't available, there's no way of knowing when or if specific roads will be added.

GM intends to make Super Cruise as widely available as possible and keep expanding the service, so it becomes about trusting GM to keep pushing and improving its product. If the stars are aligned, and the freeways you use regularly are covered, it's a great addition to a car, but its limitations need to be understood and taken into account.

• Best Whiskey
• Best Gym Shoes
• Best Pocket Knives
• Best Apple Watch
• Porsche Models

GM’s Super Cruise Hands-Free Driving Feature Blew My Mind Over 2,000 Miles

On a road trip deep into Canada with the loaded GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate, one big thing stands out.

By Steve Mazzucchi

As convenient as flying can be, some places are remote enough that driving makes more sense. Such is the case with Murdochville, Canada, a tiny town (2016 pop: 651) nearly 400 miles northeast of Quebec City.

That’s the decision three buddies and I made when we chose to check this locale — which serves as a base camp for some pretty killer backcountry skiing and splitboarding in the Chic-Choc Mountains — off the bucket list. As our destination was also 869 miles from my New York City apartment, this trip proved the perfect occasion to put GMC’s most tricked-out SUV, the Yukon Denali Ultimate , through its paces.

Now, a lot of things stand out about this nearly $100,000 rig , including the boss 18-speaker Bose sound system, massage-ready front seats, luxurious wood-and-leather-lined interior, running boards that automatically deploy whenever you open the doors and tons of space for four dudes and all their ski and snowboard gear . But as we took the YDU on a nearly 2,000-mile adventure, one futuristic feature truly dominated our chatter: GM’s hands-free driving tech, known as Super Cruise. Here’s why — complemented by some Canadian atmosphere showing off the vehicle, of course.

Super Cruise Is Super Smart

I remember trying out Tesla’s self-driving feature several years ago on a test drive. While I was impressed, it still felt like a novelty. I had similar feelings about Super Cruise until I began playing with it on the relatively short drive from NYC to my buddy Giuseppe’s place in New Paltz the day before we’d make the nearly 800-mile push from there to Murdochville.

I started with simple cruise control and adaptive braking, which is pretty handy for giving your foot a rest on the highway. Then, at the touch of a button, the light bar on the steering wheel illuminated blue and then green, and Super Cruise was happening .

The most striking thing is once you set a cruise control speed, you’ve empowered the vehicle to do what it can to maintain it, most notably by using its cameras and radar to detect road markings and other vehicles. Doing so, it can then not only stay in its lane but also engage the turn signal and automatically change lanes when the moment’s right. If you set the cruise control speed high enough, you’ll be zigging and zagging through traffic like a robotic Lewis Hamilton.

But You’ve Gotta Stay Engaged — and That’s a Good Thing

It’s kind of scary how quickly I came to trust Super Cruise and let it do its thing while I rocked out to the Allman Brothers at 75 miles an hour. On that very first drive, I was texting Giuseppe brief updates on my ETA, and the next morning, after rolling out at 5:30 a.m., I let it handle much of the highway action, even while I chowed down on some breakfast empanadas picked up at our first pit stop.

But that isn’t to say you can watch TikToks or snooze while driving. A small camera on the dashboard tracks your head and eye movement, and if it senses a lack of attention, Super Cruise deactivates: the seat vibrates, the green light bar blinks and then turns red and the display tells you to grab the wheel and take control. It’s not quite as dramatic as, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger overpowering a Johnny Cab , but if you don’t respond, the vehicle will literally slow to a stop.

Giuseppe handled half of the miles and learned firsthand that Super Cruise has little tolerance for smartphone-addled drivers. He told me that while I was napping in the back, he texted one too many times — the system completely shut down and made him wait several minutes to engage Super Cruise again.

Super Cruise’s “Butt Haptics” Are Quirky

Along with the light bar and the display behind the steering wheel that indicates such usual metrics as your speed, cruise control speed and lane changes, the most noticeable sign of Super Cruise is what I call “butt haptics.”

Basically, anytime the vehicle goes to make a lane change — or it senses you doing something inadvisable, like veering out of your lane or backing into a snowbank — the seat vibrates. It has a bit of a language, too: a buzz on the left cheek when it’s switching to the left lane and one on the right cheek when it’s headed that way.

It takes some getting used to and sometimes feels superfluous, but I did find some of the pulsing kind of helpful and safety-enhancing in its own weird way. Speaking of weird, here’s a funky thing you can do when Super Cruise is engaged — flick the turn signal stalk on the highway, and if the road is clear, the vehicle will change lanes without you doing another thing.

Super Cruise Doesn’t Always Work — and Some of Its Moves Are Disconcerting

Not long after we crossed the border into Canada, I got a notification I hadn’t before: “Super Cruise Unavailable.” We all began to theorize that maybe the whole damn thing doesn’t work in Canada for Byzantine legal reasons.

We were totally wrong. Later on, it worked just fine. Basically, as long as there are clearly visible lane markings, the system seems able to function. But if the road is covered in snow — or it’s a dirt road like the one we encountered on one of our splitboarding jaunts — you’re SOL.

That’s understandable, but I do want to note a couple of moments where the AI gave me pause. First, if you set the cruise control too fast, it can occasionally accelerate into turns in a way no human would. Second, when it comes to passing large vehicles like semi trucks, a human driver typically will give them a wide berth. Super Cruise passes them like it would any other vehicle, and unless you like the feeling of “buzzing the tower,” so to speak, it can feel a bit freaky.

Super Cruise Is a Major Conversation Piece… for Now

Even with these quirks, however, the title of this story is accurate: Super Cruise really did blow my mind, and of all the features people commented on during this very long road trip — we drove all the way back in one day — it was easily top of the list. When our buddies thanked Giuseppe and I for driving, we felt kind of sheepish, like an airline captain who uses autopilot for everything but takeoffs and landings.

One thing that really stands out is something the YDU didn’t do, which is leave me feeling totally exhausted upon arrival at our lodgings after some 14 hours on the road. That says a ton for both the comfy interior and certainly for Super Cruise. It’s pretty awesome to endure such a punishing drive and wake up the next morning refreshed and ready to tackle a mountain.

GM has done impressive work creating a system that safely and efficiently makes driving less taxing, essentially letting the driver monitor highway maneuvers and take over when necessary. That alone makes Super Cruise something to talk about — while wondering how long it will be till such functionality is so standard it is taken for granted. As someone who still appreciates manual shifting , I hope that day doesn’t come too soon.

Related Topics

• Electric Vehicles

2022 Chevy Bolt EUV first drive review: Bigger, smarter and more affordable, too

Chevy's new Bolt EUV makes a strong case for itself thanks to increased passenger space and ultra-slick Super Cruise tech.

The new design looks great in person.

No, the new Chevy Bolt EUV isn't all that different from the standard Bolt EV hatchback; these twins are definitely more paternal than fraternal. But, the few things that do separate Chevy's compact EVs actually make a significant difference. So much so, in fact, that I'm not sure why you'd buy the regular Bolt EV at all.

Both Bolts ride on a common platform and use the same electric powertrain. Their updated exterior designs are basically identical, too, though Chevy says the Bolts don't actually share any sheet metal. In person, the EUV looks way less frumpy than the previous Bolt, with slim LED running lights up front that double as sequential turn signals, complemented by standard LED headlights below. Svelte taillamps flank the Bowtie badge on the Bolt's hatch, though these only act as running lights; the LEDs below the base of the hatch opening are the actual brake lights and blinkers.

2022 Chevy Bolt EUV has more space and better tech

Stretched out

Crucially, the EUV is 6.2 inches longer than the regular Bolt EV, with a 3.9-inch longer wheelbase. If you want to get picky, the EUV is also 0.2 inches taller and 0.2 inches wider than the smaller Bolt, but neither of those increases makes a tangible difference. The only other distinguishing factor is the set of side rails atop the EUV's roof. Even the 17-inch wheels seen here are used on both models.

One of the key benefits of that longer wheelbase is a lot more rear legroom. The EUV has 3.1 inches of additional leg space for back-seat riders, and thanks to the EV architecture's flat floor, there's plenty of space to stretch out. The Bolt's upright shape means there's plenty of headroom, too, though that was never really an issue with the old car. That said, the narrow stance will still have you occasionally rubbing shoulders and elbows with your passenger, especially if you're of, shall we say, more rotund carriage.

Better cabin, friendlier tech

Weirdly, the larger Bolt EUV is actually the smaller of the two in terms of cargo capacity, though only just. The EUV has 16.3 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats when they're upright, which expands to 56.9 cubic feet if they're folded flat. The smaller Bolt EV, meanwhile, offers 16.6 and 57.0 cubic feet of space, respectively. Again, minuscule differences. And even so, the Bolt still offers more luggage space than the Hyundai Kona Electric , Kia Niro EV and Nissan Leaf .

The Chevrolet Infotainment 3 multimedia tech is great.

The 2022 Bolt EV and EUV have some nice interior updates, starting with a more attractively designed dashboard and better materials throughout the cabin. Yeah, there are still hard plastics on the doors and some of the cheapest-feeling turn signal and wiper stalks I've ever tested -- GM gonna GM -- but the seats are more comfortable, the climate controls are easier to use and there's a new pushbutton electronic shifter on the console. Well, pushbutton-ish -- you actually pull toggles for Reverse and Drive, which is weird. 

Unlike the old Bolt, which had a unique and somewhat confusing infotainment setup, the new EVs have a 10.2-inch screen running Chevrolet's excellent Infotainment 3 software. This interface earns high marks for its simply organized menus, crisp and colorful graphics and quick responses to inputs. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both supported, and the Bolt EUV has a standard charging pad in a cubby ahead of the shifter. One hyper-specific gripe, however: What's with the redundant control knob below the home button to the left of the screen? This is way more difficult to use than just touching the large, clearly labeled icons, and I guarantee you'll mistake it for the volume knob 75% of the time.

An 8-inch digital gauge cluster lives behind the EUV's redesigned (and flat-bottomed) steering wheel, but that's not the most important bit of tech in front of the driver. Instead, check out the LED light bar across the top of the wheel. That's right, kiddos, this EV has Super Cruise.

The EUV is more than 6 inches longer than the standard Bolt EV hatch.

Chevy, take the wheel

If the name doesn't automatically ring a bell, Super Cruise is General Motors' excellent hands-free driver-assistance tech that first debuted on the ( now-deceased ) Cadillac CT6 sedan. The Bolt EUV marks the first time Super Cruise is being offered on a Chevrolet vehicle, and it works on more than 200,000 miles of pre-mapped highways across the United States and Canada. No, the Bolt EUV's version of Super Cruise won't change lanes like it can in the new Cadillac Escalade , but this is one bit of tech that really separates the Bolt EUV from other electric vehicles. The only system that even comes close is Tesla's Autopilot, which despite its name, is anything but.

In the Bolt EUV, Super Cruise is a treat. Just set the adaptive cruise control and press the steering wheel icon, and GM's tech takes over the steering, braking and throttle inputs, with a sensor mounted to the steering column to make sure you're paying attention. Super Cruise works great in conjunction with the Bolt EUV's smooth electric powertrain, too, effortlessly applying more torque for acceleration and using the available regeneration to slow down.

Speaking of which, the Bolt EUV has a paddle on the left side of the steering wheel that works as an on-demand regen switch for braking. There's also a dedicated one-pedal driving mode that you can turn on and off with a button on the center console. I really like that Chevy offers these fully on, on-demand or totally off regen options. Different strokes, you know?

The other big benefit of the longer wheelbase is that the Bolt EUV has a much nicer ride quality than the standard hatch. A little more space between the wheels reduces the bouncy-bobby feeling that a lot of short-wheelbase cars have in the city or over highway expansion joints. The EUV is genuinely more enjoyable to drive -- in mid-afternoon Los Angeles traffic, anyway. I can't imagine the light steering and narrow track will make the Bolt wildly engaging out on a twisty road, but then again, that's not why people are buying these things in the first place.

The green light bar lets you know when Super Cruise is working, and the driver monitor on the steering column makes sure you're paying attention.

Average power, above-average range

The Bolt EUV has the same electric powertrain as the smaller Bolt EV, which is actually the same powertrain as the old model. A 65-kilowatt-hour battery sends power to an electric motor on the front axle, with total output rated at 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. Chevy doesn't offer any sort of dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup; you'll have to step up to something like a Ford Mustang Mach-E , Tesla Model 3 or Model Y for that.

Every Bolt EUV comes with a dual-level charge cord that has a changeable plug, letting owners hook up to both a standard 120-volt Level 1 charger or a 240-volt Level 2 outlet, and is capable of 7.2-kW charging. (This cord is an option on the base Bolt EV.) On a Level 2 charger, Chevy says it'll take about 7 hours to achieve a full charge. Both Bolts are capable of DC fast charging, too, and the Bolt EUV can gobble up 95 miles worth of electricity in about 30 minutes.

As for the all-important question of range, the Bolt EV and EUV remain competitive with other compact electric hatchbacks. The smaller EV is estimated to return 259 miles on a full charge while the larger EUV lowers that number to a still-respectable 250 miles. Those figures fare nicely against the aforementioned Hyundai Kona Electric (258 miles), Kia Niro EV (239 miles) and Nissan Leaf Plus (226 miles).

What you think are the brake lights are actually just running lights. Hit the brakes and the LEDs below the hatch illuminate.

Cheaper and priced to compete

What's cool about the Bolt EUV is that all this new stuff -- Super Cruise, better infotainment, more room, not-as-dumpy appearance -- comes on a vehicle that costs less than the outgoing Bolt. The 2022 Bolt EUV starts at $33,395 including destination, not factoring in available tax credits, which is $4,220 cheaper than the 2021 Bolt EV. The most expensive, fully loaded EUV Launch Edition (Super Cruise, sunroof, special wheels and so on) tops out at $43,495 delivered. Any way you slice it, the Bolt EUV is pretty affordable as far as compact EVs go.

The regular 2022 Bolt EV, meanwhile, starts at $31,995 (again, including destination but excluding available incentives). Yes, that's an additional savings of $2,000, but the Bolt EV has less room for passengers, isn't as comfy on the road, doesn't have the dual-charging cord standard and locks you out of GM's awesome Super Cruise tech. Chevy believes there's space in its portfolio for the two Bolts to coexist, but I honestly don't know why you'd get the smaller version. The new EUV is a bigger, better version of the already likable Bolt, and with its great tech and low price, makes for a seriously compelling way to go electric.

Solar Installer Guides

• Best Solar Panels
• Best Solar Batteries
• Most Efficient Solar Panels
• Best Solar Companies
• Best Solar Shingles
• Best Portable Solar Panels
• Best Solar Generators
• Best Solar Inverters
• Tesla Solar Panels Review
• Tesla Solar Roof Review
• Sunrun Solar Panels Review
• GAF Energy Review
• Sunnova Solar Review
• Smartflower Solar Review
• SunPower Review
• Trinity Solar Review
• ADT Solar Review
• Enphase Battery Review
• Tesla Powerwall Review
• Sunpower Sunvault Review
• Generac Pwrcell Review
• Sonnen Battery Review
• LG ESS Home 8 Review
• Panasonic Evervolt Battery Review
• Why Solar Panels Will Likely Keep Getting Cheaper
• How to Make Your Solar Panels Last Longer
• How the Solar Tax Credit Works
• How Much Do Solar Panels Cost?
• This Is How Many Solar Panels You'll Need to Power Your Home
• Solar Power Purchase Agreements Explained: The Pros and Cons
• Free Solar Panels: What's in the Fine Print?
• Avoid Solar Panel Scams: 7 Tips for Getting a Great Deal
• Solar Panels Will Eventually Save You Money. How to Know When the real Savings Begin
• This Is How Long You Can Expect Your Solar Panel Installation to Take
• The Pros and Cons of Solar Panels

Other Energy Saving Guides

• Best Smart Thermostats
• Best Portable Power Stations
• Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium vs. Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced
• Home Generator Buying Guide
• Heat Pump vs. Furnace
• Anker Portable Power Station
• Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced vs. Nest Thermostat
• Nest Learning Thermostat vs. Nest Thermostat
• Storage Tank Water Heaters vs. Tankless Water Heaters
• Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium vs. Ecobee Smart
• Moving Off- Grid: My Ultimate Pandemic Project Is About More Than Utility Bills
• How Living With Solar Panels Demystified Electricity for Me
• For Life Off the Grid, Batteries Mean Independence
• The Biggest Pros and Cons of Living Off-Grid Arent What I Expected
• The Hidden (and Not So Hidden) Expenses of Living Off Grid
• My Off-Grid Project: The Secrets I Learned to Save on Solar

Article updated on March 1, 2021 at 2:00 AM PST

Our Experts

We thoroughly evaluate each company and product we review and ensure our stories meet our high editorial standards.

• The Inventory
• Beyond Cars

Chevy’s Hands-Free Super Cruise Helps Take Some Stress Out Of Towing

I towed a trailer through la for the first time and was relieved every time i engaged super cruise.

Chevrolet’s Super Cruise is a Level 2 automated driving system that, through a series of complicated technology, allows hands-free semi-autonomous driving on specific approved roadways. I have a big history with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (or ADAS ) technology, since I was a test driver for two years with Mercedes-Benz Research and Development, where I worked on Mercedes’ Level 3 Drive Pilot system . But until last week, I had neither tried out Super Cruise nor had I ever towed a trailer before, because the prospect of towing was horrifying.

Suggested Reading

My daily driver is a 2017 Mini Cooper , so I’m not even used to driving an average sized car let alone a full-size truck towing a 23-foot trailer. As you might imagine, when Chevrolet invited me to experience towing a trailer through Los Angeles while using the Super Cruise technology in a Silverado pickup, I was still nervous as hell but excited to experience it nonetheless.

Related Content

Once I got behind the wheel of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado High Country and set off, I was eager to get to the freeway and engage Super Cruise so I didn’t have to be the only one controlling this nearly 50-foot-long setup. The Silverado made my job easier by projecting a camera feed from my mirrors onto the infotainment screen whenever I switched on a turn signal, and it even superimposes a transparent red rectangle onto the lane next to me to show my footprint with the trailer included, which took the guesswork out of lane changes while towing. As someone with no towing experience, I thoroughly appreciated these features.

Once I made it to the freeway I turned on the regular cruise control, and Super Cruise became sporadically available as indicated by a steering wheel icon on the driver’s display. To activate Super Cruise, you press the cruise control button again, and the system phases in. Once the light bar that’s integrated into the top portion of the steering wheel rim glows solid green, the system is active and drivers can take their hands off the wheel.

In my time as a Mercedes test driver, I was never supposed to take my hands off the wheel in case of emergency, so when Jeff Miller, my copilot and the assistant chief engineer of Super Cruise, reminded me I could let go of the steering wheel, I was skeptical. Once I did release the sweaty death grip, Super Cruise impressed me.

When you’re towing, the truck identifies the trailer weight by monitoring engine strain and other forces, and Super Cruise adjusts the gap between the truck and the vehicle ahead of it to account for increased braking distances. Drivers can still select between three follow distances that have all been adjusted to accommodate the load.

Super Cruise offered reliable lane centering and no big surprises, but I did have a slight pucker moment when a car very quickly cut through my lane to make an exit. The system didn’t do much in the quick moment that the offending car was decelerating in front of me, but the other party continued their last-minute merge, and I encountered no other pucker-worthy instances like this.

That brings me to Super Cruise’s limitations. When towing, Super Cruise won’t initiate or perform lane changes, which makes sense and really isn’t that big of a deal. The biggest thing to remember when using Super Cruise is that the driver is always 100 percent liable for anything that happens when the system is active. Drivers must keep their eyes on the road while Super Cruise is on, and a driver monitoring camera assures that. Super Cruise is only a Level 2 automated system, so even when the system is active, drivers are not free to use their phones or watch Netflix on the infotainment screen — they must remain vigilant of the road ahead, despite the unique benefit of being able to leave their hands off the wheel.

Despite these limitations, and somewhat frequent system disengagements during my very short haul due to various map issues, engaging Super Cruise took a lot of the stress out of my first towing adventure, and I found myself wanting to engage the system so I could worry less. In California vehicles with three or more axles are limited to 55 miles per hour; that pace can get monotonous, so I enjoyed being able to chuck the system on and let the technology remove some of the humdrum nature of the drive.

Unfortunately Super Cruise is only available on Silverados in High Country trim and a crew cab, short bed configuration. It’s currently listed online as a part of the $6,200 High Country Premium II package that actually requires the addition of two other packages, with the total cost of adding Super Cruise totaling around $7,300. The cheapest Silverado you can buy with Super Cruise costs a bit above $70,000.

A Super Cruise subscription is included for three years with the purchase of a new Silverado that has the system equipped, but after those three years, Super Cruise will cost users $25 per month for the remainder of the vehicle’s life.

Super Cruise mitigated a lot of my ever-present anxiety, and the camera feature for lane changes helped immensely, too. For experienced towers who take pride in the hairy-chested task of towing a trailer unassisted, Super Cruise might not have quite as much appeal, but I think it’s a great option for anyone who tows — especially for folks who are new to towing or get stressed out by the thought of pulling a trailer.

• Autonomous Cars

GM’s Super Cruise getting fully automatic, hands-free lane changes and more for 2022

Over-the-air feature updates for 2021 models are coming, too.

By Jordan Golson

Share this story

General Motors’ Super Cruise, one of the best advanced driver assist systems on the market, is getting a big upgrade for 2022 and will be available on way more vehicles — including, for the first time, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra half-ton pickup trucks. 

To test out the new stuff, GMC had me out to GM’s Milford Proving Grounds to play with the new Super Cruise on the facility’s 4.5-mile banked circle track. Security at the facility is tight and our cameras were either confiscated or, in the case of my iPhone, covered in obnoxious red security tape.

I soon understood the need for security when I spotted what appeared to be the upcoming 2023 Z06 mid-engined Corvette being tested, a whole bunch of GMC Hummer EV pickups and, curiously, a Tesla Model Y. (GMC wouldn’t say why, but I assume it was to check out the competition.)

Available for the first time in the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks

There are three main new capabilities to the 2022 variant of Super Cruise, and I got to test two of them:

• Fully automatic lane changes , meaning the car can determine when it’s safe to pass a slower car in front of you and execute all lane changes without involving the driver at all.
• Support for towing , allowing for hands-free trailering (but you can’t tow and have automatic lane changes, it’s one or the other).
• Upgrades to the navigation, to show Super Cruise-enabled roads on the in-vehicle navigation system during route selection.

I took the Sierra out onto the facility’s “highway” and a GM engineer followed in a chase car. After setting Super Cruise to 70mph, I settled in for a nice hands-free drive in a large circle.

Super Cruise, which debuted in 2017 in the Cadillac CT6 sedan , is capable of completely hands-free driving across more than 200,000 miles of divided highway across North America. It compares the vehicle’s position, taken from both GPS and on-board cameras, to its location in a lidar scan of the world. Once the vehicle knows where it is, and that it’s safe to activate, Super Cruise will take over both steering and acceleration.

The driver is still required to pay full attention

The driver is still required to pay full attention. The car uses an infrared vision system to ensure that the driver’s eyes remain on the road. Look away at your smartphone for too long and the system starts with warnings before disengaging entirely. But if you keep your eyes on the road, you won’t need to touch the steering wheel at all unless there’s a situation the system can’t handle.

And with the updates, you’ll be able to touch the wheel even less. After I pulled onto the highway and set my speed, the chase car sped past, moved into my lane, and then slowed down to less than 70mph. My Sierra noticed this and slowed down to match, but then it began scanning the left-hand passing lane to see if it was safe to move over.

After a moment, the car beeped at me and popped up a message warning of the impending lane change and the vehicle swiftly moved to the left lane while simultaneously accelerating back up to my 70mph set speed. It wasn’t a dramatic move, but it was impressive to watch it in action. After passing the slower car, it moved back into the right lane and continued on.

The truck has four new wide-angle, long-range radar sensors to support the system, one on each corner of the vehicle. GM upgraded the two existing rear / side radars that were there to enable existing blind-spot monitoring features. The existing long-range radar for the adaptive cruise system is carried over. Between the seven different radar sensors, the car has 360-degree long-range coverage of the world around it.

Between the seven different radar sensors, the car has 360-degree long-range coverage of the world around it

2021 Cadillac Escalade models have an older version of the lane change system where the car would change lanes if the driver activated the turn signal (though it didn’t require any interaction with the steering wheel), but this is a significant improvement on that. Just keep an eye on the road, and the car should be able to move around slower cars and trucks in your way.

The new trailering option is more complicated than it might appear at first glance. When you attach a trailer for the first time, the truck asks a series of questions like how long the trailer is. This helps the truck calculate the total length and weight of the vehicle.

While in a normal curve, Super Cruise will stay closer to the inside lane line, which is how most humans drive. With the trailer attached, Super Cruise will instead work to keep the vehicle and trailer dead center in the lane. It’ll also leave more space between you and a vehicle in front (since the truck and trailer will take longer to slow down).

All versions of Super Cruise use mapping data to determine if it should slow down for an upcoming curve. But it will be more conservative with a trailer attached, slowing down sooner and to a lower speed than without.

A Sierra can haul 10,000 pounds without breaking a sweat, and that’s a significant amount of weight to entrust to the computer, but GMC’s engineers say it really works. In my 15-minute demo, I’m inclined to agree with them — though it was the definition of a controlled environment.

“democratization of technology”

Company reps wouldn’t specify pricing nor what trim levels on which Super Cruise will be available. Phil Brook, GMC’s VP of marketing, said the addition of Super Cruise to Sierra was a “democratization of technology” and that they didn’t want to keep it buried at exclusively high trim levels. We’ll see about that, but expect Super Cruise to be an expensive option either way.

GM says the new Super Cruise will be available on a number of different vehicles, including the upcoming GMC Hummer electric pickup, the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups, the Cadillac Escalade and XT6 SUVs, and the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans. The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV will receive an older version of Super Cruise that doesn’t include the lane change features. Owners of 2021 Escalade vehicles with Super Cruise equipped will also receive the new features in a future over-the-air update.

Of course, this was a contrived test on GM’s own test track. But, given the performance of Super Cruise in our own real-world testing and the company’s conservative, take-it-slow approach to rolling out the feature across its lineup, we expect the new features to work as advertised.

None too soon, either. Arch rival Ford is planning to unleash its own hands-free Level 2 driving system, BlueCruise, later this year starting in 2021 versions of the Ford F-150 pickup and the Mustang Mach-E electric car.

And, of course, there’s Tesla’s Autopilot and the new beta version of its Full Self Driving features which also support automatic lane changes on the highway. However, the Tesla system requires the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel to confirm that they’re paying attention instead of the completely hands-free driving that the camera-based driver monitoring systems from Ford and GM allow.

Though both Super Cruise and Autopilot have been around for a while, they haven’t been available in any pickup trucks — by far the most popular vehicles in America. The addition of Super Cruise to the Silverado and Sierra, and BlueCruise to the F-150, will bring these technologies (which might be old hat to Tesla owners) to an entirely new market of flyover truck buyers.

Disclosure: GMC paid for the author’s travel and accommodations for the reporting of this story.

The US finally takes aim at truck bloat

No, kamala harris wasn’t wearing these audio earrings, these are real earrings — and also real earbuds, sony’s ps5 pro is a pricey test of next-gen consoles, taylor swift endorses kamala harris in response to fake ai trump endorsement.

More from Transpo

Scout Motors wants to put the ‘mechanical’ back into electric trucks

Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months

GM is preparing for another major expansion of its hands-free Super Cruise system

Tesla’s latest update takes aim at cold weather woes

Testing GM’s Super Cruise: Driving with no hands to where there were no roads

A 2024 Cadillac Escalade parked in front of the Trout Creek Community Centre, which is just north of Scotia, Ont. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

Standing in front of the old wooden building, you could almost hear the carousing from 100 years ago.

“A blind man would have known that that hotel was bad, if his nose and ears were doing business, but we were the sort of people who have to eat the whole egg to know that it is old,” Percy Gomery wrote in his 1922 book, A Motor Scamper ‘Cross Canada .

He and his wife Bernadette were attempting to drive home from Montreal to Vancouver, and they were headed north from Pembroke, Ont., on their way to North Bay. They did not have a map or know whether roads even existed – spoiler, they didn’t – but on that first night out of Ottawa, they needed a place to stay. Eventually, they found the Quebec village of Rapides-des-Joachims on an island in the Ottawa River, and its sole hotel.

“The upper portion of the building was merely an unfinished, dirty loft, unlighted and quite unfurnished, except for one or two shake-downs, on top of which a weary logger could throw his blankets,” wrote Gomery, a mild-mannered bank manager in his day job. “Partitioned off at one end was a space containing bedroom furniture on a floor that snapped like a noisy haycart.” The Gomerys were tired from their long drive and passed through a double line of “degenerate-looking” patrons to get to their room.

Highway 11 in Scotia, Ont. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

I wanted to find that old hotel as part of research for a book about the original pathfinders who attempted to drive across Canada before the Trans-Canada Highway was built. I drove north from Ottawa for a couple of hours in a 2024 Cadillac Escalade, much more comfortable than the Gomerys’ 1920 Russell. Unlike them, I had maps to show me exactly what to expect, and where. Even more remarkable was that the Cadillac could access a virtual GPS map directly from the cloud, so detailed that it knew about road conditions down to the last few centimetres.

That map, combined with a raft of sensors and cameras inside and outside the car, are the foundation of General Motors’ Super Cruise system of semi-autonomous driving, a system I was about to test.

A map of Super Cruise enabled roads after 2024-2025 expansion to 1,200,000 kilometres. Courtesy of manufacturer

It’s similar in principle to Ford’s BlueCruise system, though Super Cruise has a larger network of mapped roads, covering 650,000 kilometres in Canada and the United States today and expected to almost double by the end of next year. It will let you drive without hands on the wheel or feet on the pedals for as long as it’s active, provided the car’s internal camera sees you watching the road, ready to take control at any moment. It will even overtake slower vehicles automatically if you’re on a multi-lane, controlled-access highway, with a wide or solid median intended to keep oncoming traffic well away from your side of the road. Its biggest flaw is that you get used to it quickly, and come to resent when it doesn’t work because you’re driving on an unmapped road, or a highway that’s under construction and still paying $25 a month for the feature.

Most other semi-autonomous driving systems available in North America require you to hold the steering wheel after absences of anywhere from 15 seconds (Honda) to up to two minutes (Hyundai). Even Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving program makes you hold the wheel and not let go for too long, though it will use its cameras and navigation program to drive the car to your chosen destination.

On the Trans-Canada Highway just south of Mattawa, Ont. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

Stellantis launched its Hands-Free Active Driving Assist system last year, and has already announced its replacement next year with a more advanced system that does not require the driver to watch the road (considered to be Level 3 autonomy). The only system sold in North America that does not require eyes on the road is Mercedes-Benz’s DrivePilot, which is available on certain EQS and S-Class models. It’s legal only in California and Nevada, will not overtake automatically, and works only up to 65 kilometres an hour, in daylight.

The green light on the steering wheel indicates Super Cruise is activated and automatically steering the vehicle. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

In case there’s any doubt, you cannot buy a fully autonomous vehicle in Canada right now, no matter what the sales and marketing folks would like you to believe. They aren’t for sale. The driver is still legally responsible for whatever happens behind the wheel. Just read the fine print or ask your insurance company.

I set the Cadillac’s navigation system to show me the way to Rapides-des-Joachims and settled back in the driver’s seat, not touching anything once I was up to speed on the highway and had activated Super Cruise. It uses cameras, sensors and highly detailed map data to gauge the road position and driving conditions.

However, when the Trans-Canada lost its wide centre median near Renfrew, and whenever the road narrowed from four or three lanes to just two, the system would no longer make its own lane changes to leave the merging lane and would shut off if I didn’t do the steering myself. This is a safety feature, to ensure there would be no oncoming traffic in the lane. Whenever we approached a traffic light, the system would also shut off, not reading whether it was green or red.

One time, coming up to a red light, I purposely ignored the instructions to take the wheel. The car’s internal warnings flashed and buzzed more insistently until an extremely loud voice came through the speakers, ordering me to take control. I did so, and the Cadillac refused to allow Super Cruise to resume until I eventually stopped the vehicle and shut everything down to reset. If I had still not taken the wheel – if I’d suffered a heart attack, say – the car would have applied the brakes and the hazard lights and alerted an OnStar operator that I was in trouble.

Lodge owner Said Abbassi, who bought the place a few years ago and is renovating it to be a fishing lodge. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

I found the old hotel fairly easily – it stands out in the village – and spoke with its owner, Said Abbassi, who bought the place a few years ago and is renovating it to be a fishing lodge. The river is renowned for its stocks of sturgeon, sunfish, walleye, whitefish, catfish and bass. He said he would visit from his home in Newmarket, Ont., and one day the previous owner told him he wanted to sell. “He said, ‘I’m sick and tired of here,’ and bang, bang, bang, after three or four days, he was gone and I owned the place. Now, I go fishing every day.”

Percy Gomery in his 1920 Russell. Supplied

I showed him the description from Gomery’s book, when Percy and Bernadette were kept from sleep by the woodsmen in the bar below: “I must admit that the occasional concerted rendering of one of the old French-Canadian chansons lent a picturesque air, but these were outnumbered, and out-hollered, by strictly up-to-date and strictly unprintable songs of the rivermen,” wrote Gomery. “I cannot say that the night hung heavily, because nothing is more enlivening than a series of fights which you hear, but cannot see, and the frequent smashing of bottles proved at least that interest was not flagging.”

The next day, the exhausted Gomerys left and pressed their way through the woods and swamp on trails barely passable on horseback, let alone motorcar, asking directions along the way. They were stuck many times but made it to North Bay before finally having to load their car onto a lake steamer west of Sudbury. The Escalade, however, drove me comfortably and without incident to the village of Scotia, about an hour south of North Bay.

Jack Haney fixing a flat tire on the 1912 Reo. Supplied

Scotia was immortalized in Thomas Wilby’s 1914 book, A Motor Tour Through Canada . He and his driver, Jack Haney – two men who despised each other – tried to be the first motorists to ever drive across Canada, again with no maps. After leaving Halifax, Scotia is where they first got well and truly stuck on a sandy hill. “Scotia Junction was a geographical expression set down promiscuously and irrelevantly in a swamp in the heart of Ontario,” wrote Wilby. “Scotia Junction was the end of the world.”

The Reo being hauled out of the sand by horses at Scotia Junction. Supplied

The Escalade on the sand at Scotia. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

Their 1912 Reo car twisted its drive shaft when it was yanked from the sandpit by a team of horses, and the pair had to wait at the local hotel while a new shaft was sent up by train from Toronto. Like Gomery, Wilby is disparaging about the place, but I drove the Escalade down a sandy road next to a railway track, just off Highway 11, and found Will Wilkes living at the end of it with his kids. “My landlord says this used to be the old hotel, way back when,” he said of his house.

On the Trans-Canada Highway from Rapides-des-Joachims, Que., to North Bay, Ont. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

When Wilby and Haney finally fixed their car and continued north, they ran into more sand and hills and broken bridges that almost did them in. “Slowly we advanced along the grass-grown, corduroy path,” wrote Wilby. “We had been five days covering the 200 miles separating us from Toronto. The road had teased and insulted us, had defied us and goaded us to herculean efforts, exasperated us, indeed, beyond the ordinary lot of human endurance. For days we had coaxed and cajoled the car along, then bullied it and made its life a torture. We had tossed it and rocked it and pitched it and then broken it once, nay twice, and bombarded it with an infinite number of tricks and devices to advance it on its way.”

And they made it, all the way to Vancouver, though they also had to load the car onto a steamer across the Great Lakes and then a train to Winnipeg. Me? I waved goodbye to Wilkes and his kids, drove the Cadillac back down the sandy road to Highway 11, then set the navigation and pressed the button to activate Super Cruise. The Escalade glided me home on the smooth Trans-Canada Highway in less than three hours, barely touching the wheel or pedals except for a short stop along the way for an afternoon cappuccino. What a difference a century makes.

Mark Richardson reading a map near Ottawa while trying to figure out the route to Rapides-des-Joachims, Que. Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

General Motors provided the vehicle and covered basic expenses for the trip. Content was not subject to approval.

Mark Richardson is the author of The Drive Across Canada: The remarkable story of the Trans-Canada Highway and its adventurous pathfinders , to be published next year by Dundurn Press.

To download a free copy of A Motor Scamper ‘Cross Canada (1922) by Percy Gomery, click here .

To download a free copy of A Motor Tour Through Canada (1914) by Thomas Wilby, click here .

Report an editorial error

Report a technical issue

Editorial code of conduct

Follow related authors and topics

• Mark Richardson
• Leisure and Recreation

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following .

Interact with The Globe